Figure 3. Schematic diagram of apoptotic mechanism induced by gossypol. We found that gossypol induces Bax/Bak independent apoptosis. It can directly impact on mitochondria to induce the reduction of m and cytochrome c release without affecting mPTP opening. Our results showed that the interaction between gossypol with Bcl-2 and the subsequent Bcl-2 conformational change play critical roles for the apoptotic effects.